CHICAGO (Reuters) - Improved treatments for non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma helped patients live longer in the United States,
researchers said on Monday.

In particular, the targeted drug Rituxan, in combination
with chemotherapy, has helped younger patients with
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which occurs in roughly 20 of 100,000
people, they found.

Two-thirds of patients diagnosed between 2002 and 2004 will
survive at least five years, compared to half of patients
diagnosed between 1990 and 1992, according to the study
published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Ten-year survival rates were projected to rise to 56
percent in patients diagnosed from 2002 to 2004, up from 39
percent in 1990-1992, the researchers found.

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"Improvements were most pronounced in patients younger than
45 years, but improvements were seen in all age groups," wrote
Dr. Dianne Pulte and colleagues at the German Cancer Research
Center in Heidelberg, who analyzed data on nearly 86,000
patients from the U.S. National Cancer Institute.

The disease attacks the lymph nodes, spleen and other
organs responsible for the body's immune system.

A key weapon against non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is the antibody
therapy rituximab, sold by Genentech Inc. under the brand name
Rituxan and by Roche AG in Europe as MabThera, which interferes
with the growth and spread of cancer cells.

Rituxan was approved in 1997 and was the first cancer drug
to use antibodies to specifically target tumors.

"Treatment with antibody therapy and chemotherapy has
extended life expectancy in many cases, but whether and how
often this extension represents a true cure is still unknown,"
Pulte wrote.

Some cancer treatments can slow the progression of the
disease but do not end up helping patients live any longer.